Porcupine Tree / Arriving Somewhere: deluxe 2CD+blu-ray combo set

Debut on blu-ray and CD • In Absentia & Deadwing reissued on vinyl

English rock band Porcupine Tree was formed by Steven Wilson back in 1987 and to date they have released ten studio albums. The concert film Arriving Somewhere was made when 2005’s Deadwing album was toured and then released on DVD the following year. That same film is now issued on CD and blu-ray for the first time, in a special three-disc package.
The band were Steven Wilson, Gavin Harrison, Richard Barbieri and Colin Edwin with John Wesley and this performance was filmed in Chicago on 11-12th October 2005 and edited by long-time Steven Wilson collaborator Lasse Hoile.

Since this is now on high-def blu-ray, it includes the audio in three formats, all mixed by Steven Wilson: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, PCM Surround and PCM Stereo.

The Blu-ray extras include: bonus live performances from the German Rockpalast TV broadcast of Radioactive Toy and Futile; live projections of Start of Something Beautiful, Halo and Mother and Child Divided; the Lazarus promo video; Gavin Harrison’s Cymbal Song video; and a photo gallery.

The three-disc release is packaged as a ‘media book’ and comes with a 24-page booklet. The Deadwing album and its 2002 predecessor In Absentia are also reissued on vinyl around the same time.

This special edition of Arriving Somewhere is released on 23 March 2018.

Update: Steven Wilson has been in touch with SDE directly to confirm that despite label notes to the contrary, this isn’t a new remaster, it’s the same mastering as 2006. This post has been amended accordingly.

I’m more in the SW solo albums camp than the PT camp (except for “To the Bone” – not my cup of tea), and I have been longing for an UN-mastered mix of Deadwing, and In Absentia (the two albums that brought me to his work) for ages. Especially Deadwing – the compression is awful and the only way I can enjoy the album in stereo now is I made a down-mix of the 5.1 surround layer to stereo from the DVD-A, but there are times that doesn’t work well at all (“Open Car” is missing backing vocals, etc.). I don’t care for a change in the mix – I think the mix is fine – it’s the final master that got compressed and to me sounds like the equivalent of shoving all the furniture in a 5,000 square foot home into a 600 square foot apartment. And don’t get me going on the snare drum… (Those first two snare blasts on “Shallow” will break your eardrums). So I’m not sure how much time needs to pass or what the “creative control” aspect of the record deal is about, so hopefully he can wrest control back and get us some decent stereo mixes of these two tremendous albums. (By my estimation, In Absentia has compression problems in its master too, but not to the degree Deadwing does, which again, is head-spinning at times). And for what it’s worth, if you check setlist.fm, he’s playing A LOT of PT songs during his current tour, so he hasn’t lost his appetite for rocking out. Oh, and I don’t collect vinyl anymore, so whether it’s a new master or not (sounds like not), these IA and Deadwing reissues don’t really apply.

I’m probably going to pass on Arriving Somewhere because while the audio of the DVD is good (I have a lossy version of the album I lifted off the DVD, so a lossless CD/BR is my only curiosity with this set), I cannot stand the editing. The faux computerized film grain scratchy effects are a distraction, and even caused me pause when I read that Lasse Hoile was also behind the Anesthetize video (happily, SW released a brief trailer which did not contain the same type of editing choices, so I picked up one of those cloth-bound book versions). This is probably the first time a new PT release is not on auto-buy for me, simply because an upgrade to Blu would only get me lossless audio of the show and I don’t mind enjoying it in lossy for now.

I hope more fans clamor for UN-mastered Deadwing and In Absentia releases!

The only concert that has been recorded that I would like to see released is the Radio City Music Hall that was a webcast.
Basically a “best of” [was about to say “greatest hits” but the band really had none] and lengthy.

A good album but for me, not as dynamic/exciting as ‘Anesthetise’ (which is up there with ‘Strangers In The Night’ and ‘All The Worlds A Stage’ as my favourite live albums)
The combination of Steven and John Wesley is just superb and I love the riffing!
The DVD/CD set is brilliant value too.

Also recommend ‘Live In Atlanta’ which you can get from the SW website.

SW had commented that he wanted another shot at remastering (RM) “In Absentia,” but given how long ago those quotes were published; and that I don’t, personally, know where the Porcupine Tree/Kscope publishing/reissue-rights issue stands, I’m at a loss. I know I read something by SW, about everything reverting back to the band, after 10 years or so, but I can’t find that article to confirm. If or when SW/PT were ‘in control’ of their material, it was ‘suggested’ that maybe Wilson would opt for an ‘Adaptive,’ ‘Expanded’ or ‘Definitive,’ 5.1 Blu-ray Edition (5.1-remixed by SW), RM & RE (re-issue). Now, given that “Deadwing” was 5.1-mixed by the ‘godfather-of-modern-surround,’ (E. Scheiner), maybe as with the SW, 5.1-mixed, ‘Definitive Edition Blu-ray’ of “Fragile” by Yes, SW would include both 5.1 mixes if he chooses to surround-remix both of those albums, as well as RM in a smart and reasonably-priced RE via cd/5.1 Blu-ray booksets.

Maybe Paul, another enlightened SDE contributor or even SW, himself, could enlighten us about HIS once quoted plans for “In Absentia” and/or other PT albums — RM, RE and maybe SW, 5.1-remixed, as well on to the Blu-ray Disc format.

…until or if then, we can enjoy this KScope 2cd/SW, 5.1-mixed Blu-ray HD concert film RE.

This was one of the best PT tours, however, the frantic editing and occasional special effects give you a nose bleed. I pointed this out to S.W. as he never objects to genuine observations about his work and does actually think about what is said.

With the amount of space on a Blu-Ray, I would love a single camera edit version of the show, with the band playing live just as if you are watching it at the show. This would have the additional benefit of not having the presence of intrusive selfish cretins taking awful quality photos and films on their phones. The sooner that phone screening pouches become the norm the better.

Amongst other great live shows that I attended and were released and ruined by editing and effects are:
Zappa; Does Humor Belong In Music NYC 1984. Edit every two/three seconds and interrupted by interviews. Sorry Frank mistake. Get the whole show re-redited and out there!
King Crimson: Radical Action. Superimposed whole stage image throughout the concert. Why?

Back to this P.T. release, if you are able to source the full Rockpalast performance it is better, as the editing is less intrusive. Why only two tracks Steven?

Anyway I’ll be buying it.

Burning Shed are superb. Shipping is higher than average but you get what you pay for. Stunning friendly after sales service from Pete and no problems to me in literally hundreds of orders. Any issues sorted at once.

Having bought it all the first time round including the music as a download from the Burningshed.com site I don’t think I will be going for it again but I am really pleased that PT are being represented here. It is very unlikely that PT will reform as a proper band again, there maybe a reunion concert in the future. My friend Tim Bowness(Steven Wilson’s singing partner in No Man) runs Burningshed, for those who have never used them please check out their site: http://www.burningshed.com. They have some of the best packaging for posting vinyl I have come across(they designed it themselves) so there is no risk of bent covers.
Sorry for using your site to give them a recommendation Paul but they are a small British company supplying a niche market and doing it very well.

If only they could get a partner in the USA (or maybe even a shipping partner who could ship all of their US orders together, I don’t mind if they arrive few days later), but I have no idea what’s the demand across the pond. I would love to purchase directly from them (and I have whenever they have exclusive editions) but the shipping costs (understandably) kills the deal for me unfortunately.

Thanks to the owner of this site banging on about this Wilson bloke all the time ;-) I’ve recently gone and ordered nearly everything in his solo back catalogue, some of it twice as I wanted some of the albums on blu ray and CD! In the interest of science I did a price comparison between Burning Shed, Headphone Dust and Amazon before ordering and there was a mere 22p separating all three with Amazon being the dearest. Obviously they would have been cheapest in the end with the free p&p, but I went with the SWHQ store.

The pricing on this is indeed very good. I love all the early Porcupine Tree stuff but after Deadwing i lost interest in them when they went too heavy metalish and noisy for my liking and the one saving grace was that Blackfield were releasing albums as well. It’s strange that this is being released on Kscope and there is no mention of it on their website or even on Burning Shed.